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Chapter 24

This chapter really shows how distribution and mastering is simply the icing on a piece of cake compared to the construction production and completion of an entire picture. This chapter reminds me of two Hollywood stories I have heard. The first is of Howard Hughes being so nervous during the premier of one of his films that he spent the first half of the premiere in the bathroom of the theatre. The second, a response to a reporter’s question in light of Avatar’s premier James Cameron said his motto is that mistakes are good and that fear is not. When making a picture we must remember to always keep the audience in mind. This brings us to our conclusion and the constant conflict that continues to make film great: If we are afraid to take chances how can we expect to surprise people and how can we entertain our audiences if we’re giving them ideas they don’t expect? The answers to these questions are that we’ll never know. So, the only way to remain sane is to produce pictures in a systematic, planned manner.

Cutting sound is pretty much a ridiculous chapter. I am not really sure why or how this point was not covered in the three or four previous discussions on sound. This is simply about finding problem areas or areas in need of more editing, duplicating room tone and fill space, and lastly, aligning tracks accordingly. Not to mention the chapter is talking about moving pieces around after dicussing the importance of finding harmony in ones sound design. Wouldn’t altering the tracks after this destroy any chance of harmonious sound design?

While we often think sound is about hearing the right sound with the correct action, we often forget about the blend that is needed to stay consistent with the scene and film as a whole. Sound design is the entire sound environment of the picture. The blend and harmony the different sound tracks create often help the rise and fall of action within the scene or film. This truly completes the sound environment. I especially enjoyed in this chapter the discussion of ambient and walla walla sound. To think that I have seen countless film where subject are simply saying walla walla to creat background noise is hilarious.

Chapter 21

Film truly is art because it is such an interpretive medium. While an image may show you what to see and sounds may tell you what to hear, but a film cannot tell one what to think. The interpretation of a film is left solely up to the viewer. But, how one reaches this interpretation is often a result of editing. Editing can influence the intensity of a scene and the importance of an action. As I said in the chapter 20 blog for an editor, capturing the best possible picture from the footage given is often an interpretation as well. I especially enjoyed the points made in this chapter about editing intuitively. As the book says, a good editor will know when to keep an edit and when to hold on a shot to build dramatic intensity.

Chapter 20

The editing of a film can make or break a picture as much as anything else can. But, a change in editing can also make a good picture different but still good and a bad picture different but still bad because the near-endless amounts of possibilities. As digital editing allows us reshape and mold our stories into the stories in our minds we are also much more likely to be able to view our stories in their unnatural states, causing us to move and change progressions and scenes around at our discretion. This is a far cry from older methods of piecing together film but is no less effective. Editing is simply allowing the viewer to see what you want them to see as voiced by this chapter and manipulating this image is a principle that holds constant through several means of completing the task.

Chapter 18

Chapter 18 is the culmination of all of the pre-production processes employed in the previous chapters. Now after creating systematic ways to plan for your project one must execute their plan as efficiently as possible. By using different systems and workflows created in pre-production a director and his/her crew can get in and get what shots they need and get out. But the book also recognizes the initial flaw in any preproduction system. Filming a movie and working on a set often presents un foreseen challenges. The quick answer is to simply change everything. But there is never enough time on a set and high profile productions general run on high but strict budget limitations. So one must learn to improvise but to continue to employ tactics from the pre-production systems that were created so that a set and a shoot continues to maintain consistency.

Chapter 6

This chapter is all about organization. As the writer communicates, sets are always absolute chaos. With good pre-production and planning skills, a set can be somewhat controlled, with out them–it can be a wreck. The planning of props was especially intriguing. The neutrality or lack there of sends different messages according to the tone of the scene, but the funny thing is that these decisions are made before the screen has left the page. I also like the workflow/budget section. Without these, there is no way a director/production manager/ anyone can keep consistency within a set. The writer really emphasizes consistency and how it can often translate to screen, for better or worse, even if the activity has nothing to do with the seen image. This is due to an organizational environment formed during pre-production.

Chapter 7

The topics discussed in chapter 7 are the ones I feel most of the general public has the least amount of knowledge, or least come into their minds while watching a film. However, finding the right people to portray a directors vision is probably the most important aspect of planning. I like how the writer places a ton of emphasis on the ability to communicated well with cast and crew. I especially like how he ties in overheads and shot planning at the end of the chapter. I feel as though this chapter is kind of a script in its own merit on the entire selection and utilization processes as far as pre-production planning is concerned.

I liked how we were assigned to this reading after the end of all of our initial, small projects because it offered clear insight into what we had done wrong in organizing our productions. We are all probably creative people and based merely on the scientific fact that our brains are divided between the creative and organized sides, it is probably very difficult for the majority of us to be extremely organized in nature. But, this chapter points out the necessity of learning to become organized and harnessing the excitement that comes with creating a shot into preparing for and communicating the logistical creation of a shot. Also, I loved the importance of putting individual shots and scenes into the perspective of the pacing for the rest of the story.